Rockville Centre Letters to the Editor, Week of Feb. 14

Posted
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 11:09 am

We need fair

districts

To the Editor:

The Nassau County Legislature must approve a redistricting plan by March 5. To this end, it set up a bipartisan commission last spring and gave it a budget of $500,000. The commission consisted of five Republican and five Democratic commissioners, with a Republican chairperson. The idea was for them to come up with a collaborative plan that balanced the population of each legislative district.

Unfortunately, there was no collaboration. On Christmas Eve the Republicans posted a plan online. Hundreds attended the only hearing held on that plan on, Jan. 3. Only two of the 50 people who spoke supported the plan. Despite that, the plan was submitted to the County Legislature for approval by the Republican commissioners.

Although the majority of voters in Nassau County are Democrats, this plan is so gerrymandered that it results in only seven of the 19 districts ending up with a Democratic legislator. Even worse, to achieve this result, numerous communities are split up. A good part of Garden City is in a district that runs through Carle Place, and into Bethpage and Hicksville. Rockville Centre is divided into three sections. All the homes west of Hempstead Avenue, all the way up to Mercy Hospital, are part of the Lynbrook district.

The proposed Republican plan is so outrageous that a neutral coalition, which includes the League of Women Voters, was motivated to develop an alternative map that balances the population in each district but keeps communities together. I urge my friends and neighbors to support this reasonable and fair alternative by calling County Executive Mangano at (516) 686-4260 and letting him know that we want our redistricting done in a way that serves the interests of our communities, not the interests of our politicians.

Lorrie Brady

Rockville Centre

Doesn’t want a Suozzi comeback

To the Editor:

This is my rebuttal to Lauren Summa’s letter (“Hoping for Suozzi return,” Jan 24-30), which was filled with numerous inaccuracies. As a young person, she obviously does not own a home. As such, she was not aware or chooses to ignore the fact that as Nassau County executive, Tom Suozzi raised property taxes promptly at the beginning of his term and several times during his eight-year administration, capped by implementing the home energy tax prior to his defeat.

Ed Mangano was God-sent to Nassau County residents with respect to taxes. His first critical legislation was the repeal of the home energy tax, which would have been a duplicate payment in addition to monthly electric, gas and heating oil bills. In addition, Mangano eliminated the 16.5 percent planned property tax hike and held the line on property taxes during his first four years as county executive. He also stopped a fast-food tax and cut wasteful spending by $200 million plus.

With respect to the New York Islanders, who chose to relocate to the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn at the expiration of their contract, Mangano wanted to renovate the Nassau Coliseum, but Nassau County residents voted down his proposal to borrow money to rebuild the arena and he is currently exploring other options.

The consolidation of the police precincts was also motivated by reducing expenses and freeing policemen to patrol the streets instead of holding down desk jobs. The Mangano administration should be commended for fixing the broken property tax assessment system, which has accumulated $1.6 billion in debt owed by residents.

It is unfortunate that the Democratic-controlled NIFA board did not support Mangano’s accomplishments, but stood in the way of progress. Shame on them.